


Rom-Com Gone Wrong

by kiraisstillhere



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Exy (All For The Game), Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Youtube AU, but they played lacrosse so it kind of counts, fake dating au, neil is a disaster but andrew kind of likes it, the author might be projecting their love of coffee onto the characters, there's just a lot of coffee involved, this is miraculously not a coffee shop au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:01:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25368805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiraisstillhere/pseuds/kiraisstillhere
Summary: When a photo of famed bassist Neil Josten “getting coffee” with a mysterious stranger surfaces, it doesn’t take long for people to find Andrew Minyard’s music review Youtube channel. The internet explodes with rumors of “Andreil”, and Neil persuades the usually quiet Andrew to have some fun with it.--or: the fake dating au/band au/youtube au that absolutely no one asked for or neededEDIT: this fic is on hold for a little bit but should be back soon!!
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 5
Kudos: 82





	Rom-Com Gone Wrong

**Author's Note:**

> me, starting another chaptered fic in the middle of my other one? it's more likely than you think! this idea took over my brain after [cabeswhatever](https://twitter.com/cabeswhatever) on twitter suggested a title for a fic meme and i had to write it
> 
> the band name is 3$EVEN by fling posse from hypnosis mic! it's read as "three-seven"
> 
> fic title is rom-com gone wrong by matt maltese
> 
> chapter title is ode to myself by ellie goulding

Neil Josten loved coffee. Not for any particular reason, other than the fact that it had been the most consistent thing in his life besides his mother and his love of music. Now that she was gone, and now that his band had made it big, he supposed that coffee was the next thing on the list. 

Throughout his short life so far, Neil had tried just about every form that coffee could take - jelly beans, ice cream, and regular old liquid, to name a few. From the years he’d spent traveling the states with his mom, Neil had a few different opinions that he stood staunchly by, but his top two were easy: gas station coffee was better than everyone gave it credit for, and relationships were given _far too much_ credit for what they were.

The Blue Bean was one of Neil’s favorite cafes in Los Angeles. He originally hailed from Baltimore, but when he and his mom had moved after… _issues_ with his father had happened, the Blue Bean was his safe haven. After a long while spent around the world with his mother by his side, Neil hadn’t been a fan of being home alone, especially when she was away at work until the evening most days.

They’d moved to LA at the tail end of summer, right before the new school year started, with just enough time to get Neil enrolled at the local high school. He wasn’t exactly an expert on making friends - a byproduct of a bad childhood followed by “homeschooling” (if it could even be called that) during his junior high years. By the time his mom had found a job and had moved them from New Mexico to California to start work, Neil was a senior in high school and had been left with nothing but his bass and an extraordinary ability to blend into the background of any situation.

So Neil went to The Blue Bean.

The coffee shop was nothing special. It was about a ten minute walk from the high school, and mostly run by college students. True to its name, it was painted a brilliant cerulean blue inside, and all of the tables and chairs had blue details on them. It was a place where Neil could sit for a few hours and study, read, or play on his phone, and no one would ask any questions as long as he shelled out a few bucks for coffee every once in a while. He had even thought about working there at one point, before the band had gotten the call that changed their lives.

So no, The Blue Bean was nothing special. Physically, the shop was just another non-chain cafe, but Neil had a lot of emotional attachment to it. There were perks to being a long-time customer, sure; free snacks with his order, or an under the table copy of the bathroom key. The biggest perk, however, was that everyone kept their mouth shut when he was there.

God, he could imagine the media nightmare that the cafe would suffer through if word got out that they were housing Neil Josten, bassist of 3$EVEN, at least four times a week while he scrolled through Twitter and drank a black coffee with half and half. The band wasn’t People Magazine famous by any means, but he was certain the swarm of alternative music magazines trying to get a hometown interview would cause enough of a problem.

3$EVEN was something out of Neil’s wildest dreams. With his stunted friendship-making skills, Neil spent the time he wasn’t at the cafe learning songs on his bass and shouting off-key lyrics until his mom came home, and then they’d eat dinner and share about their days. His mom was constantly busy, and usually being pestered by the people around her who asked stupid questions. Neil’s days at school were fine; his classes, his teachers, his homework. There was no need to share that he ate his lunch in the French teacher’s classroom.

_Always fine,_ she used to say. _I’m beginning to wonder if you actually are_. 

A quarter into his senior year, when he’d posted the hand-drawn, printer paper flyer on the community board at The Blue Bean, he hadn’t expected to actually get any responses to his crappy call for a few people to play music with.

Dan Wilds was the first. She was a dancer from the rival high school about thirty minutes out, and a killer drummer. They met in the cafe, soaking up the air conditioning and the sound of small talk as they drank their coffee. From the moment that she joined Neil at his table, there was absolutely no doubt in his mind that she was the one. She radiated energy, order, and power; Neil knew that she could control a rhythm and a room just by presence alone. Her short-cropped hair’s demand for civility was at war with her easygoing smile, and it was so uniquely _Dan_ that he didn’t even have to think before he was telling her his address and asking if she needed a drum kit or if she had her own.

Next came Seth Gordon and Allison Reynolds, a package deal that had filled two spots in one go. Neil recognized Allison as being from his Spanish class, and he knew of Seth because of all the rumours he’d heard from the other students in his classes about him dropping out during his own senior year the year before to go to rehab for his drug addiction. Neil still wasn’t clear on how Allison had met him, but it wasn’t his business, so Neil didn’t ask. Seth explained that he’d been playing guitar for almost his whole life while he sipped at his cold brew, squinting a little from the sun that shined under the outdoor awning. Allison sat next to him, and told Neil how she’d always wanted to be a singer and was down to try any genre that Neil wanted to play. When he said he wanted to try a modified rock music, she just smiled and repeated that she was down for anything.

Finally, there was Jean Moreau. Neil wondered if eating lunch in Mr. Charpentier’s classroom had been a blessing in disguise when the gentle giant who would come to be his rhythm guitarist had joined him one day. Jean was Mr. Charpentier’s nephew, sent to the states to live with his uncle and finish his schooling at an American high school and maybe get into an American college. They’d eaten lunch together in silence for exactly two weeks before Charpentier kicked them out for an “important” French club meeting, and thus, forcing Neil and Jean to actually talk together for the first time. It took the rest of lunch, but Neil convinced Jean to join, giving them a full band and a plethora of possibilities.

They spent weeks practicing and getting used to each other, before moving into writing their own original music. Seth came into rehearsal a few months in and suggested that they choose a band name, since they were beginning to do their own thing instead of just covers.

Neil honestly couldn’t remember how the band name came to be. In his head, the afternoon had been spent with them all drinking, throwing out names that were too ironic, too boring, too divisive among all of them to really give them a good idea. Now, whenever they were asked in interviews, they always said that 3$EVEN stood for the numbers three and seven - they joked that they were common lucky numbers, and that they were lucky to find each other, but the truth was that they had all been drunk, and that none of them actually remembered.

And now, seven years later, twenty-four year old Neil Josten was sat lounging in his regular chair at his regular table, nursing an unsweetened iced coffee as he scrolled through the latest updates from fans’ social media pages. He liked seeing the pictures of himself from the perspectives of the crowd; it made him feel like he was back at being in the audience before their sets at one of the local clubs. His favorite thing to do was comment on pictures that he thought were done well - it was always fun to see the people get excited for the things he did.

The Blue Bean had a bell over their door that jingled whenever a new person opened or closed it, giving the staff and guests a good idea of just how busy things could be. Neil vividly remembered sitting through the afternoon rushes with the poor thing sounding like it just might break off at any moment from the sheer volume of people that were coming in and out. A particularly aggressive ringing of the bell drew Neil’s attention away from retweeting a shockingly clear video of one of their concerts that a fan had posted as part of some hashtag that Allison had started that morning.

The man who walked into the cafe was not what Neil had expected from the sudden sound. His clothes were casual, and his lazy gait was at odds with the sharpness that he had opened the door with. He walked over to the pick-up counter and leaned against the wall, pulling his phone out of his pocket and scrolling through it.

Short, stocky, and dressed head to toe in black with an unwelcoming grimace on his face, there was no doubt in Neil’s mind that this guy was either a musician, a music snob, an asshole, or a horrifying mixture of all three. He just _looked_ like someone who was unafraid to pick a fight. And Neil was enamoured with it.

Simply put, Neil was kind of into dickheads with bad attitudes. He had never dated anyone before, didn’t really have a type that he knew of, but someone who could match him quip for quip seemed like his ideal person. Relationships were nice in theory, but between working on new music and touring with the band, there was no purpose to them.

_Especially_ when he’d seen how Jean had faired during their first tour after he met Jeremy? It was ridiculous. The man whined for days about how much he missed his husband, and Neil had promised himself that he would never turn out like that.

But the man in front of him seemed like he might be interesting, if Neil was privy to making friends with random people that walked into his coffee shop. Thankfully, he wasn’t, and that simple fact often saved him from lifetimes of embarrassment, as he just _didn’t_ strike up conversations with every person he might stand next to. For a moment, an image of Matt talking with the food vendors at one of their festival venues appeared in is mind, and Neil felt the same shudder of “what the fuck are you doing” run down his spine.

A text from Dan made his phone buzz, and he jerked a little in his chair from the sudden movement. He looked away from short, dark, and dickish to see what was going on in the band’s group chat. Dan wanted to know when everyone would be over for movie night, along with a list of the snacks that they had gathered up for the evening. Neil was busy typing back a response while the baristas called out names, distracted while thinking about how he was going to torment Seth with a million different new harmony suggestions.

After a couple of exchanges between the six of them, it was established that Neil was on candy duty, Allison and Seth were bringing savory snacks, and Jean and Jeremy would be on time, but tired from their flight to California.

Neil leaned back in his seat, finishing his cup of coffee and letting his eyes wander over the decor of The Blue Bean - the community board, the collection of pictures on the wall, a bookshelf with a few of its contents around the space in patrons’ hands - it was all exactly what Neil loved about the place. Warm, homey, and all with the underlying smell of burnt coffee beans. He didn’t know why he was so sentimental today, but maybe that’s just what happened after drinking four large cups of coffee. According to Allison, that wasn’t an accurate conclusion, but Neil had never been _too_ wrong before.

With one final message to the group, Neil stood up and finished the dregs at the bottom of his cup in one long swallow before using his knee to push his chair back into place and walking to the garbage bin.

He shot a peace sign to the baristas and buried his nose in his phone, finishing his retweet from earlier and switching to another app. If it hadn’t been for the body in front of him, Neil might have walked directly into the glass door. A truly stunning face plant directly into the freshly cleaned panes might have brightened the day for the other people in the shop, but Neil had a face that he wanted to semi-preserve, and he was lucky enough to find himself nearly tripping into another person leaving.

“Sorry,” Neil mumbled, not really meaning to sound like he was brushing the person off. He looked up to see if they’d turned around, but was only greeted with the back of a blonde head and broad shoulders that might even make Matt jealous.

Oh. It was the grouchy goth from the pick-up counter.

“Here, let me get the door,” Neil said sheepishly, grateful that he hadn’t actually run into the guy. There was no need to show up to Matt and Dan’s place sporting a new shiner and a busted lip.

Neil reached out and put his hand up to the door, holding it open. It was the least he could do after almost kicking him. A grunted _thanks_ made its way to Neil and he assumed that it was meant for him as he pushed the door wide enough to fit the both of them walking out, reaching into his coat’s pocket and sliding his sunglasses on.

He left The Blue Bean behind Pick-Up Counter Goth, reading the list of candies that his friends wanted.

\--

Curse caffeine addiction.

That was all Andrew Minyard could think as he locked the gate to the rental home they were in and started his walk down the street to The Blue Bean. Sure, the coffee was a little more expensive than, say, Starbucks, but the cafe was in walking distance from their place and they sometimes gave him free desserts with his orders, so Andrew stayed a customer.

This particular morning, Andrew was walking to the cafe because he and Kevin had suffered a horrible fate: they were out of coffee, and neither of them wanted to drive to the grocery store. Since Kevin was filming some voice challenge that his subscribers had suggested, Andrew offered to go get them something.

Plus, a walk would do him some good. It gave him time to think about his next video, and how he still wasn’t finished with the editing on this week’s upload.

If someone had told Andrew five years ago that he would be making videos for a living, he would’ve told them to get the fuck out of his face and never talk to him again. Twenty-year old Andrew had not been a fan of people telling him about his future. 

Yet, here he was, the owner of a fairly popular Youtube channel and half a million subscribers who enjoyed watching him rant about music every week. What had started out as a way to constructively direct his irritation had blossomed into a full-time job that barely required a schedule past “wake up during the day”, and Andrew still wasn’t entirely sure if he was grateful for that or not.

There were a few things that had come out of it that he _was_ thankful for. Living with his two best friends, for starters. Not being forced to interact with people that he didn’t like for eight hours. A solid paycheck and a few really chill sponsors that let him do as he pleased were also nice to have.

He passed by a man with two kids outside of the little ice cream parlour near the housing area. Andrew thought about all the shit that he’d gone through to get to where he was, thought about all the anger and hurt that he’d gone through, and how Nicky had tried to help in the aftermath of it all. He’d have to take Nicky to get some of the ice cream if he ever came to visit during a convention.

Andrew had to keep reminding himself that he’d already been in California for almost two months. The flight from South Carolina had been horrific, with no time for him to smoke in between layovers. Even now, their rental didn’t allow for smoking close to the house, leaving him to stand in the middle of the garden at night like a fucking idiot while Kevin laughed at him.

The reason that they were even _in_ California - as opposed to, say, their comfortable and spacious house in South Carolina - was because Kevin had gotten cast as a lead voice for a new anime that was getting an English dub. Andrew wondered how all the girls that had wanted Kevin as their sexy jock boyfriend would react if they knew that he was a goddamn nerd when he wasn’t playing sports.

On principle, Andrew, Kevin, and Renee lived, worked, and travelled together. They were an unbreakable trio that had formed during his sophomore year of high school, when Nicky had moved Andrew and Aaron to South Carolina from California. Andrew had attempted to be another sad kid in a black hoodie in hopes that he would be left alone, but apparently that was not something that Renee nor Kevin had believed in.

Kevin Day, the tall bastard, had decided that Andrew would make a perfect goalie for their school’s lacrosse team, and had pestered Andrew incessantly until he finally agreed, if only to get the jock to shut up. Kevin’s father was the coach, and his step-mom was the school’s sports physician, and Nicky was just excited that Andrew had made a friend. Before getting his Maserati - his beautiful Maserati, sitting in the Wymacks’ _driveway_ instead of with him - they used to give him rides home after practice. Those drives were what Andrew marked as the actual beginning of his friendship with Kevin. He wasn’t just another annoying dude who couldn’t shut up about his college sports dreams, he had depth. _Character_. And that character was that he was a fucking nerd.

Renee was someone that neither of them had planned on. She was two years older than them, with white hair dyed in pastel chunks around the bottom, and a cosplayer. Andrew and Kevin had run into her in one of the nerd stores in the mall when her and Kevin’s hands dramatically brushed over each other while reaching for the same figurine. After talking for a while, she revealed that she was a goalie for a team in the school district once over from theirs. She played on the boys’ team because her school didn’t have a girls’ one, and before Kevin could open his mouth and let his jock brain take over, she guaranteed that she was able to handle herself.

The three of them became an unlikely trio of friends, primarily because Kevin and Andrew couldn’t drive, and Renee offered to give them rides to the mall when she and Kevin wanted to go get new things. And where Kevin went, Andrew followed. He had promised that Kevin wouldn’t face harassment from his late mother’s side of the family. From what Kevin had told him, Kayleigh Day was the only person that Andrew would have liked anyway, so he didn’t feel too bad threatening his weird cousin.

After a few months, their friendship had reached a point where Andrew and Kevin had gone as Renee’s dates to her senior prom (in subtle cosplay, because Renee had wanted it - she even made their suits), they’d gone to her graduation, and later, she’d done the same for them.

Now, they all lived in Columbia, three hours away from Kevin’s parents, and, according to the latest interview they’d done with CosTalk, they lived a “Youtube dream” in terms of being housemates with each other.

Andrew just thought it was strange that he’d become well-known in the cosplay and anime parts of Youtube. He was a _music review_ channel, for Christ’s sake. He just happened to live with ReneeSaysCosplay herself, a fan-proclaimed DIY-cosplay queen and the sweetheart of the cosplay community, and Kevin Day, a voice actor who specialized in English dubs of anime, because, as Andrew had said many a time before, his best friend was a _nerd_.

He just had a lot of opinions about a lot of things, and they’d quickly established in college that an outlet for all of said opinions was a necessity. While his primary focus was the rock scene, he wasn’t opposed to reviewing the intros to anime that Kevin and Renee suggested. Other thoughts shared on his channel included: ice cream floats were better than milkshakes, lacrosse was dumb, and the beach was okay when he wasn’t freezing his dick off while Renee took photos for her Instagram.

One of the longest standing opinions that he had shared on his channel that had also been the most controversial was that Starbucks was better than Dunkin’. Had Andrew known the divide it would cause among his subscribers, he would have said something sooner. Watching the chaos unfold in his replies every time he posted a picture of his coffee was one of the small highlights of his day. It had reached a point where people would send custom-painted cups to his PO box, and though Andrew never said it in his videos, he was grateful for every single one.

And here Andrew was, an ex-athlete-turned Youtuber, that had all been started as a suggestion from his therapist as a way to be angry about something without doing stupid things. Kevin had started his own voice acting channel, claiming it as a way to create a portfolio of sorts, but Andrew suspected that Kevin had done it so that Andrew wouldn’t feel alone. Renee already had a tiny channel and helped them learn the ropes, but they’d all blown up around the same time, after Kevin started getting cast in supporting side roles more than just background voices.

Which brought him back to why he was walking down the street of an outer part of Los Angeles, headed to his favorite coffee shop in the first place. The feeling the autumn sun shine on his cheeks was nice as he mulled over whether or not he should just make a short vlog. He wondered if he should announce that this week’s video would be pushed back to next week because of the schedule he was under. He _did_ have to pack up his gear, since they were leaving soon. 

Kevin was recording as a main character for the dub of some new anime, something about deep sea exploration with a supernatural twist, and they’d all flown out as a group to the same rental they always stayed at when Renee went to conventions.They’d collectively decided to spend the entire recording process in California, which meant a godawful amount of cameras between the three of them - not to mention the rest of their things.

But right now? The important thing was coffee. And a tea for Renee, he mentally added. He may as well get her a chai, since he was already out anyway. All thoughts of videos could be pushed away until tomorrow.

The Blue Bean’s colorful interior was never something Andrew would outwardly admit that he enjoyed, but it was nice to see the blue walls and bookshelves that invited customers in. The warm smell of coffee beans that were just a little _too_ roasted mingled with some of the sweeter scents from the pastry box as Andrew stood in line to order. He wondered if he should get a croissant. No, then he’d have to get Kevin a croissant too, and the ass had won Monopoly last night, and Andrew was mad at him.

His phone buzzed, making the keys in his pocket vibrate uncomfortably against his leg.

A text in their group chat had set it off. Renee was wondering where Andrew had disappeared to, since she noticed that there was no coffee in the house. Kevin quickly replied, saying that Andrew had gone to The Blue Bean, and Andrew threw in an _I can speak for myself, dipshit_ for good measure. Renee admonished both of them for instigating each other.

  * _Kev: is it because i beat you in monopoly last night_
  * _i’ll kill you in real life_
  * Renee: _no one is killing anyone. andrew do you u want to help me with my video when u get home?_
  * _idk_
  * Kev: _it’s not like people don’t know we all live together. just pose for her_
  * _if i must. i’m at the register. i’ll be home soon_



Andrew ordered and took his place up against the wall opposite the pick-up counter, next to a table with a guy who definitely looked like one of those _I’m an artist_ types. That, or one of the people who was really into trendy Japanese fashion, like some of Kevin’s friends. The black shirt and ripped white jeans could have passed for an outfit on their own, but the unnecessarily long, dramatic green coat with a fur-lined hood was definitely the marker of someone who was a fan of attention. Overall though, it was one of the tamer outfits he’d seen in Los Angeles. 

Say what you might about looking at random strangers and their clothing choices, but this was LA, and in Andrew’s experience, the looks were accepted, if not welcomed, as a part of life.

The barista that looked a little too much like one of his old classmates from college called his name and pushed the drinks out for him to grab. Andrew didn’t know how he felt about being in another one of Renee’s videos as a model, but Kevin was right - it wasn’t some big secret that they all lived together. Plus, it was a solid excuse to be a little behind on this week’s upload.

Andrew watched from the corner of his eye while emptying a few - by his definition - extra packets of sugar into his coffee (they never put _enough_ ) as the guy from the table stood up and finished his coffee and checked his phone. 

He felt himself sigh internally when he saw that he was wearing a belt and a set of black suspenders clipped unnecessarily around his waist. What the fuck was up with fashion-forward people? This guy could be almost cute, if not for the excess of accessories. Mentally, he admired the way that they could get dressed up to go anywhere, but Andrew personally would stick to old venue shirts and sweatpants.

He tossed the last of the sugar packets into the bin and started walking out of the door, shouldering it open, when he felt the hair on the back of his neck raise. Someone was too close to him. Andrew resisted every urge he had to turn around and deck whoever it was flat on their ass. He’d been in his fair share of fights throughout high school and college, including a particularly nasty one when he was a junior in high school. Luck was on his side the day that a judge had ruled that it wouldn’t carry over into his adulthood. He didn’t need a new arrest record.

Plus, Renee and Kevin would be less than thrilled to have to come bail him out.

“Sorry,” the person behind him said. They sounded like they weren’t fully paying attention, and Andrew figured that they were a little muffled because they were behind him.

“Here, let me hold the door.”

An green-clad arm came around him, a little too close to his shoulders for comfort. It took Andrew a moment, but he realized that the color belonged to exactly one person in the cafe. _Of course_ Andrew would get stuck with the one person in the coffee shop who looked interesting reaching around him.

His throat tightened. This was absolutely not the time to be developing a crush in a coffee shop that played indie music over their sound system. Andrew would not be that person.

“Thanks,” he said, trying to sound grateful and not succeeding in the slightest.

They walked out together, awkwardly trying to distance themselves as soon as they could.

Neither Andrew, nor the unnamed stranger behind him noticed the cell phone pointed in their direction.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed!
> 
> come yell with me about aftg on [twitter](https://twitter.com/cybbetta) and [tumblr](https://alvarezforthegame.tumblr.com)


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